Curated OER
Using a Sundial
Students examine the use of a sundial to tell apparent time. In this sundial instructional activity, students watch a teacher demonstration using a flashlight to create shadows. They discuss what happens to shadows of different objects...
Curated OER
Compass Rose
Students describe the movement of the Earth as it relates to the sun. They construct a permanent compass rose and use it to find directions.
Curated OER
Sundials: Observing and Using Shadows
Learners build sundials and observe changes in shadows over the course of one or more days. They identify patterns in the shadows and discuss how shadows may be used to tell time.
Scholastic
Groundhog Day
A simple activity for a simple, but special, holiday. Young learners read a brief history of Groundhog Day, practice reading aloud, and then discuss how shadows are formed.
North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences
Weather Watch Activity Guide: Groundhog Day
Exactly what do groundhogs know about weather? Not as much as your science students will after completing these lessons and activities that cover everything from the earth's rotation and the creation of shadows, to cloud...
Curated OER
Cameras and Shadows
Students discover how light creates shadows by photographing them with a camera. In this sunlight lesson plan, students utilize the light in the sky to create different shadows of themselves and objects near their classroom,...
Purdue University
Global Design for the Seasons
People don't all get the same amount of sun at the same time of the year. Collaborative groups explore how the motion of Earth contributes to the idea in an inquiry-based STEM lesson. Learners first investigate how the rotation of Earth...
Curated OER
A Shadow of Yourself
Students measure the length of their shadows three times during the day, Students determine the differences in shadow lengths after each measurement. They discuss why the length changed from one time of day to another.
Curated OER
Sun-Shadow Mandala Worksheet
In this Sun-Shadow Mandala Worksheet, students complete a graphic organizer and create an original mandala. Students are given 8 categories with related questions as a guide.
Curated OER
Let the Sun Shine!
Students investigate how the sun can be used for energy. They read a handout, discuss the pros and cons of passive solar building design, develop flashcard questions, and identify jobs that can be helped by solar energy.
Curated OER
Earth, Sun, and Moon
Students participate in a demonstration and complete an online activity that illustrates the earth orbits the sun once a year, and that the moon takes approximately 28 days to orbit the earth.
Curated OER
Sunshine and Shadows
Students measure their shadows early in the morning, record direction of shadow, make marks in ground with chalk or tape, measure with ruler, and record results. Students repeat process at noon, and then later in afternoon. Students...
Curated OER
Moon Shadows
Students study the moon and its shadows. In this moon lesson students complete a lab activity that shows the different shadows and answer questions.
Curated OER
Learning Lesson: The Shadow Knows I
Students examine the elevation of the sun to discover the changes in seasons. They observe and measure the length of their shadow. They compare this measurement to one taken four months later.
Curated OER
Shadow Chasing
First graders observe and measure their shadows. They go outside at three hour increments during the course of a day. Each time students measure and record the length of their shadows. Students read books about shadows and discuss why...
Curated OER
Shadow Trackers: From Photography to Writing
Students explore the rotation of the earth. In this science instructional activity, students view photos of various places around the world. Students conduct an experiment in which they can see how the earth's rotation creates shadows on...
Curated OER
May Earth be Revolving around the Sun?
Ninth graders explore how Aristarchus used the position of the half-full Moon to estimate the distance to the Sun, and how he made a great error, but still figured out that the Sun is much larger than Earth.
Curated OER
Learning Lesson: The Shadow Knows II
Students discover and practice how to calculate the circumference of the Earth. They measure the length of their shadows and use the distance they are away from the equator to complete the calculations. They discuss winter or summer...
Curated OER
Measuring the Sun's Diameter
Students project and measure the suns image using a refracting telescope. In this sun's diameter lesson students calculate the magnification of the telescope and determine the diameter if the Sun.
Curated OER
Around the Sun We Go
Sixth graders complete a short survey on the relationship between the Earth and the Sun. In groups, they participate in an experiment in which they test the angle of the Earth and compare it to the sun. To end the lesson, they discuss...
Curated OER
The Shadow Knows
Sixth graders examine the relationship between light and the angle it strikes objects. In groups, they shine light from a flashlight on different objects and describe how it affects the shadow. To end the lesson, they complete a...
Curated OER
Cloud Shadows
Students classify the visual opacity of various materials, what is needed to create shadows, and classify clouds by the types of shadows that they produce.
Curated OER
Light
Here is a stellar slide show for illuminating middle schoolers' minds on the topic of light! An interactive slide allows viewers to sort light sources by whether or not they are man-made. More objects are displayed and learners discover...
Illustrative Mathematics
Tilt of Earth's Axis and the Four Seasons
Geometry meets earth science as high schoolers investigate the cause and features of the four seasons. The effects of Earth's axis tilt features prominently, along with both the rotation of the earth about the axis and its orbit about...